Page 7

Three hours later, the ceremonies were concluded. Councillor Rothaway was given a medal of discovery and Ziggy had a heavy star dangling on a ribbon around her neck. It was a civilian medal of honour and it impressed the hell out of the audience of the Nine.

Ziggy was in a daze when the music swelled and the assembly broke up. Rothaway’s hand held her in place and she waited with him and the other representatives in their row as the humans and others filed past them. The members of the nine races smiled at her, giving her friendly winks and frank looks as they passed her.

She leaned over to Rothaway, “Why are they staring?”

“You have been recorded as the first of your species to have shown potential. Our mother ship has been seeking other species for generations in hopes that one would show potential for the development of psychic or physical evolution. That the Tokkel found you first was a source of distress and embarrassment.”

He murmured it softly but there was an undertone to his voice that sent her nerves into sensory overdrive.

She checked the information that she had pulled out of Meevin, but the effect she was experiencing was not in the doctor’s information.

She whispered again. “Why do we have to sit here?”

He nodded to a few of his own race. “So that each race is represented from beginning to end of the ceremonies.”

“Your people are the Wilder?”

“We are. We are aware that your folk call us shifters, but now that you are here, you should know the proper name for those you will be surrounded by.”

She swallowed as the final folk went past. “You are speaking as if I am going to be locked into the mother ship.”

“Not locked in, but to keep us in defensive orbit you will need to remain as an example of why we are here.”

Ziggy blinked. “But, you have been here for the last five years without anyone acting as the potential.”

Rothaway caressed her hand with his thumb. “My mind was laid open and it was confirmed that not only were you gifted, you were Gaian. It was in our best interest to find the Tokkel ship to determine your identity.”

Ziggy sighed and rubbed her forehead with her free hand. “So that is why the Nine participated in the salvage of the Tokkel ship.”

“You did quite the job on the tracking systems and you landed it in a mineral heavy area. It was buried quite deep.”

There was admiration in his tone.

“My friend Tiera’s brother was a sea miner. I remembered the location from his conversation.”

He scowled. “You have feelings for this male?”

He had gone from being cuddly and seductive to bristling with rage in a moment. It shocked Ziggy when she realised that his hair was actually elevating and standing on edge.

“Only insomuch as he is Tiera’s brother. He is like family.”

Ziggy gave in to the urge to stroke his arm to calm him. “I think we can go now.”

He looked up and the representatives on the other side of them were watching him cautiously.

Lyneer made himself known as he cleared his throat. “Perhaps this discussion would best be held in privacy, councillor.”

Rothaway shook his head as if to clear it and nodded his head with a jerk. “I apologise I am degrading a little more rapidly than I thought.”

She didn’t have a chance to ask about what precisely was degrading, he gently lifted her to her feet, and they left the podium and the relieved councillors behind.

Lyneer walked in front of them, deflecting the people who tried to approach her. She tried to ask Rothaway what was going on, but his face bore a frightening intensity that told her to hold questions until later.

He seemed to have grown by a few inches and his hair was fluffed out she could swear that she saw his ears twitch as they passed other males. The Wilders that they approached took one look at him and flattened themselves to the walls to get out of his way.

She scrambled in her mind for the information as to what was going on, but there was nothing specific to Wilders in the information Meevin had surrendered. There was nothing coming from Rothaway right now either. This was an emotional matter and she couldn’t hack through to the logic of it.

Silently she let Lyneer lead them through the halls until they entered a huge garden in the centre of the ship.

There was an attendant to one side and Lyneer moved to speak with her quietly. She nodded and handed him a triangle that had a slight glow.

Lyneer held the triangle out and walked down a barely visible path, the object brightened and continued to increase in luminosity as they progressed.

The green man paused next to a stone obelisk and pressed the triangle into the rock.

Rothaway tugged her past the stone and Lyneer smiled in encouragement. “It will be fine, Signy. No harm will come to you.”

With that alarming statement, a barrier sprang up between them crackling with energy. Lyneer waved at her and kept his smile in place as she was hauled along.

Now that privacy was assured, she was irritated. “What the hell is going on, Rothaway?”

He looked down at her and she flinched back, the whites of his eyes were crimson and fangs were showing at the edge of his lips. “I will explain when we get there.”

“Holy heck. What is that about?”

She tried to dig her heels in but he gave her arm a yank and she stumbled forward.

She should have been feeling fear, but nothing that he had done was violent and it seemed that his situation was understood by those who had seen him in the halls. It was something they were familiar with so it obviously occurred enough to be recognised.

Green and lavender grass and flowers were all around them, filling the air with a heady perfume that gave her a heavy feeling in her limbs.

She stumbled as he kept forging forward and he turned swiftly to lift her in his arms. “It is the flowers. They will relax you and keep me calm.”

His words were rumbling out of his chest and she bit her lip as the vibrations ran right through her to pool in her lower abdomen and between her thighs.

She breathed in deep for self-control and more of the floral scent ran into her bloodstream.

He stopped in front of a rocky altar that had the hilt of a knife sticking out of it.

He set her on her feet and stood in front of her, his teeth were shorter and he looked less wild.

“Signy, five years ago you started this when you kissed me. My people have a strict no contact policy when it comes to the opposite sex for just this reason.”

“What is going on?”

He dragged in a deep breath and held her hands. “When you kissed me I was in a susceptible state and I keyed to your genetic code. Only you were able to be my match from that day forward.”

“What?”

Her voice came out on a husky whisper.

“I was with an all-male crew because we needed all ships in the air and I was entering a receptive phase. If I had been trapped with a female of the Nine, I may have fought for her with my crew and that would not have been a good thing. As it was, when you touched me I knew that I was doomed and despite the effect of your kiss I was elated at the same time.”

She blinked up at him. “I don’t understand.”

“Wilders hunt their mates by scent and opportunity. If we don’t find a mate before we reach a critical age, we go into the rut and seek our mate with aggressive fixation.”

He paused to inhale. “I was lucky enough to have a powerful female find me instead of running from me.”

She blinked. “Me?”

“Indeed. Now, to end the rut we need to engage in one of two events. One, is to have sex right here.”

Her mouth opened in shock.

He chuckled, his fangs flashing.

“The second option is to share blood. That will pause the effects for a few days and allow us to get to know each other.”

“Option B.”

He laughed. “Remove the knife from the stone. Females don’t have the fangs so we have built in the assistance to make things easier.”

“Seriously? I have to take a knife to you?”

He held out his hand. “Wrist to wrist.”

She tugged the knife out of the stone and wondered if it would make her queen of the ancient land of England. With a giggle, she held the knife awkwardly and raised it toward him. “What now?”

He pressed the knife against his wrist and wrapped his hand around hers, pulling it sharply until his blood welled.

She gasped and jerked her hand back but his grip was tight. He raised her wrist to his lips, the blood trailing down the blade still in her fist. She winced at the flare of pain as he bit into her, but the moment he broke her skin he released her wrist and moved it to press against his own open wound.

Her mind opened wide as his blood seeped into her arm and hers moved into his. Her hand maintained the grip on the dagger as she took all of his knowledge into her including his emotions and the personal details of his life.

Ziggy’s breath came out of her on a moan, and her knees buckled. She took them both to the ground and she collapsed under the burn of pain mixed with the knowledge of a lifetime that was not hers.

She leaned forward and he mimicked her, their foreheads leaning together, their breath mingling as they completed the bonding that he needed to still the fire in his veins.

In less than one day she had gone from being Ziggy, to being Signy Alora Rothaway Vaddos, and it was quite the alteration.